Built to replace many of the HSTs and locomotive hauled services operated by (as it was then called) Virgin Cross Country, the Class 221 Super Voyager is similar to the Class 220 but has a number of key differences. They include being fitted with tilting mechanisms to able to tackle curved track at higher speeds (able to reach 125 mp/h) and they have a different type of bogie. The body and much of the equipment is the same as on the 220 however. The tilting mechanism has been deactivated on 221s operated by Cross Country [1].
Virgin Trains 222 105 passes through Hampton-in-Arden
Information
Number built:
195 (43 4 and 5 car sets + 2 spare)
Built:
2001-02
Builder:
Bombardier
Engine:
Cummins QSK19 diesel per car
Power:
(5-car) 3, 750 hp (2, 796 kW)
(4-car) 3, 000 hp (2, 237 kW)
Formation:
Driving Motor Standard Lavatory (DMSL)+Motor Standard Lavatory (MSL)+MSL+Motor Standard with Miniature Buffet (MSRMB)+Driving Motor First Lavatory (DMFL)
or DMSL+MSL+MSL+DMFL
The 221 operates in four and five car formations, two driving cars are kept by Avanti West Coast as a spare. Avanti West Coast (who took over from Virgin Trains in 2019) only operate five-car sets, using them on services on the West Coast Main Line and into North Wales though will replace them with AT300 bi-mode units from 2022. Cross Country operate the 221 on services across the rail network.
XC 221 120 at Leamington Spa
XC 221 124 at Manchester Piccadilly
Virgin 221 118 at Milton Keynes Central
XC 221 122 passes through Tamworth
XC 221 125 at York
[1] Colin J Marsden, DMU and EMU Recognition Guide (Ian Allan, 2013) p. 175
Ruston & Hornsby built these diesel shunters for industry in the 1960s in diesel-hydraulic (LSSH) or diesel-electric (LSSE) versions. A modified version of the latter with some extra features for mainline use was bought by British Railways as it's Class 07.
The LSSE/H has a small wheelbase (and could be either be a 0-4-0 or 0-6-0 locomotive depending on the customer's requirements) to cope with the tight curves typically found on industrial railways but be larger and more powerful than the small diesel-mechanical shunter usually found on these lines.
Iris seen at Princes Risborough
Information
Built:
1959-1968
Builder:
Ruston & Hornsby
Motor:
Paxman 6RPHL diesel
Power:
Typically 275 hp (205 kW) though could vary
Wheel arrangement:
0-4-0 or 0-6-0
A number of the shunters were sold to MOD use an example being Iris (RH 459515 / 1961) which once carried the number WD8214. It is now preserved on the Chinnor & Princes Risborough Railway. A small number now carry TOPS numbers as Class 01/5 - former industrial shunters now used on the main line. One being 01 509 at Chiltern Railway's depot at Aylesbury.
These diesel multiple units were built in the mid-2000s to modernise Trans-Pennine routes [1] and are among the latest DMUs running on the network. They are part of Siemens' "Desiro" family and are very similar in many ways to its Desiro EMU cousins like the Class 360.
TPE 185 148 at Manchester Piccadilly
Information
Number built:
103 (51 3-car sets)
Built:
2005-7
Builder:
Siemens Transportation
Motor:
Cummins OSK19 diesel per car
Power:
2, 250 hp (1, 680 kW)
Formation:
Driving Motor Composite Lavatory (DMCL)+Motor Standard
Lavatory (MSL)+Driving Motor Standard (DMS)
The Class 185s are low-density stock designed for cross country routes with 2+2 seating arrangement in Standard and 2+1 in first. They are designed for high performance (100mp/h operation) with excess power to handle hilly routes.
All are currently operated by Trans Pennine Express though some have been loaned out to Northern in the past.
TPE 185 123 at York
TPE 184 144 at Manchester Oxford Road
Unidentified TPE example at Darlington
185 121 in older First TPE livery at Liverpool Lime Street
TPE 185 120 approaches York
[1] Colin J. Marsden, DMU and EMU Recognition Guide (Ian Allan, 2013) p. 168
B Stock was built in 1905 for the electrification of the District Railway's Ealing/Hounslow - Whitechapel line and the branches to High Street Kensington and South Acton [1]. Working to a common design, four hundred and twenty driving cars and trailers were built by a number of manufacturers. Of each seven car set three cars were powered (400hp each) [2].
District Railway B Stock train [2]
Information
Number built:
420 (60 7-car sets)
Built:
1905
Builder:
Brush Traction, Metropolitan Amalgamated,
Les Ateliers de Construction du Nord de la France
Motor:
British Thomson-Houston GE69 electric motors (600v DC fourth rail)
Power:
1, 200 hp (895 kW)
Formation:
Driving Motor (DM) + Trailer (T) + T +
Middle Motor (MM) + T + T + DM
As built the B Stock had compressed air operated doors under the control of a single gateman, pioneering the use of air doors on the London Underground. However these doors proved unsuccessful in use, one problem being there was no detection system to make sure the doors had closed properly other than the gateman's eyeballs! The door edges were copper lined not rubber and the District Railway was soon getting a bad press due to the number of injuries and torn clothing of passengers. The District Railway reverted back to manual doors in 1908.
The cars were made from wood with steel underframes with General Electric motors and BTH type M controllers [3]. The so-called Motor Middle cars had driving cabs at each end to allow the trains to be reduced in size during quiet periods, some were also used as single cars on branch shuttles. The trains had a mixture of first and third class accommodation.
Some trailers were scrapped in the early 1920s due to their poor condition [4]. Some remaining B Stock trains were later reconditioned and redesignated H Stock trains, these remained in service until 1946. The final few B Stock cars remained in departmental use until 1950 before being scrapped.
Side view of B Stock car [5]
Interior [5]
B Stock car on delivery [5]
[1] Brian Hardy, Underground Train File: Surface Stock 1933-1959 (Capital Transport, 2002) p. 24 [2] "Electrification of the District Railway", Practical Engineer (October 6 1905) p. 551 [3] Piers Connor, The London Underground Electric Train (Crowood Press, 2015) p. 43 [4] Hardy p. 26 [5] S.B. Fortenbaugh, "The Electrification of the London Underground Electric Railway Company System", Street Railway Journal (Vol. XXV No. 9, March 4 1905) p. 388
The Dudley, Stourbridge and District Electric Traction Company was a 1,067mm gauge tramway which operated electric trams between 1899 and 1930. The company ran services from Dudley and Stourbridge with branches to destinations like Cradley Heath and Lye. The company was the successor to the Dudley and Stourbridge Steam Tramways Company which had operated since 1883 before being taken over by British Electric Traction (BET). BET bought up a number of smaller networks and agreed with local authorities to operate the services as long as they could own the lines for a period to recoup their investment.
Tram at Castle Hill, Dudley [1]
Information for 19-25 Class
Number built:
7
Built:
1900
Builder:
Dick, Kerr & Company
Following the takeover (and rename), the tram network was converted to electric traction with a number of extensions opening in the early 1900s. The Kinver Light Railway was also purchased and taken over in 1902. The system was managed, along with other Midlands tram networks, after 1904 by the Birmingham and Midlands Joint Tramways Committee set up by BET [2]. The combined network stretching for over a hundred kilometres.
The network began to be run down and closed in the mid-1920s as leases from local authorities expired. The tram routes were taken over by buses. The final closure was in 1930.
The company operated single decker trams, early trams being built by Dick, Kerr & Company of Preston and were typical products of the early 1900s with a Lord Baltimore style truck [3]. Later trams being built by the Birmingham & Midlands Tramways Joint Committee. Four tram cars have survived in various states of preservation.
[1] Arthur Beavan, Tube, Train, Tram & Car (Routledge, 1903) p. 181 [2] Charles Knapper, The Golden Age of Tramways (David & Charles, 1974) p. 146 [3] R.W. Bush, British Electric Tramcar Design 1885-1950 (Oxford Publishing, 1976) p. 29
Operating since 1992, Manchester's Metrolink is a fast growing light rail network and is now the largest tramway network in the UK [1]. Since 2014 it has been operating exclusively the M5000 tram [2], part of Bombardier's Flexity Swift family. Croydon Tramlink also operates the CR4000 in the Flexity Swift family.
3094 prepares for the off
The first M5000s were ordered in 2007 with a service entry at the end of 2009. Further orders followed which allowed for the replacement of the original T-68 tram and for expansion of the Metrolink service. Now there are one hundred and twenty in service with a further twenty seven ordered in 2018, for delivery in the early 2020s, to allow for an increase in service frequency and a gradually expanding network.
Information
Number built:
120 (+27 on order)
Built:
2009-
Builder:
Bombardier, Vossloh Kiepe
Motor:
4 Vossloh Kiepe 3-phase asynchronous traction motors (750v DC OHLE)
Power:
480 hp (644 kW)
The M5000s are articulated units based on the K5000 trams used in Bonn and Cologne. They have either fifty two or sixty seats depending on the batch, with standing they can hold nearly one hundred and fifty passengers. They operate on their own or as pairs. They are able to operate in longer formations than pairs but this causes problems with platform lengths and signalling so is only done in the event of a breakdown.
The first sixty M5000s are fitted with automatic stop equipment and can be used anywhere on the network, the second batch of sixty does not have this equipment and are restricted as to the routes they can operate on [3].
All aboard
Front on view of 3114
3094 at Deansgate Chesterfield stop
3054 in the city centre
3010 and friend connected
[1] Robin Prichard & Alan Yearsley, UK Metro & Light Rail Systems (Platform 5, 2019) p. 120 [2] Colin J. Marsden (ed.), Light Rail (Key Publishing, 2018) p. 41 [3] Prichard & Yearsley, p. 124
The Plymouth Locomotive Works first began building gasoline fuelled locomotives in 1912 based on the road vehicles they had been building (as the Plymouth Truck Company) since 1909. The early locomotives which had friction drives and were sold under the J.D. Fate name [1].
In the early 1920s the first diesel locomotive was built and the company moved fully to building industrial locomotives (selling the automobile side of the business to Chrysler in 1928). The company went on to build thousands of small diesel shunters (or switchers to use the US term) for industrial and small yard use in the US and around the world until the late 1990s.
Plymouth 5800 at the Statfold Barn Railway
Information
Number built:
Over 7, 500
Built:
1912-1997
Builder:
Plymouth Locomotive Works
Motor:
(J Series example) Caterpillar D326 diesel
Power:
(Typical) 185 hp (198 kW)
Wheel arrangement:
4wDM
Most locomotives were under 25 US tons (22.6 metric tons) and were offered with a variety of powerplants including Caterpillar, Cummins and Hercules diesel engines. Over one thousand and seven hundred are thought to be still in use.
Five are preserved in the UK [2], three of them at the Statfold Barn Railway. One example is Plymouth 5800 which was built in 1954 and worked at St Marys Cement Company in Ohio, USA working on a 914mm gauge system. It was converted to 610mm gauge when bought across to the UK.
Playmouth 1891 is an early example, it has a Caterpillar D315 engine
Plymouth 6137 is also at the Statfold Barn Railway with 5800 and 1891
Side view of 5800
Another view of 6137
1891 seen at the Statfold Barn Railway
[1] Plymouth Locomotive Works, American Industrial Mining Company Museum <http://americanindustrialmining.com/plymouth-locomotive-works> [2] Industrial Railway Society, Industrial Locomotives Handbook 18th Edition (Industrial Railway Society, 2019) p. 381
